Paper holder

ABSTRACT

A paper holder for tightly gripping name cards, chits, memorandum and other papers and material to be clipped. Materials to be clipped are held fast by the resilient restoring force of a helical tension spring so that it is possible to positively hold the materials fast without damaging them.

iJite States Patent [1 1 Ealiamizawa et al.

11 3,738,499 1 June 12, 1973 PAPER HOLDER Inventors: Naboru Takamizawa, Kohhoku-ku,

Kanagawa-ken; Masao Ohsuga, Tokyo, both of Japan Assignee: ADAC Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan Filed: May 24, 1971 Appl. No.: 146,195

Foreign Application Priority Data July 13, 1970 11.8. C1. 211/120 Int. Cl A47h 13/00 Field of Search 211/12 D, 69.8

Japan ..45/69508 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1948 Mocnik 248/468 489,794 1/1893 Dyre 24/67.9 780,443 1/1905 Phillips et a1. 211/120 X 1,588,471 6/1926 Bezkorowajnys.. 267/74 2,482,258 9/1949 Funk 211/120 X 3,094,129 6/1963 Wi1ls.... 131/238 Primary Examiner-Nile C. Byers, Jr. Attorney-Toren and McGeady [57] ABSTRACT A paper holder for tightly gripping name cards, chits, memorandum and other papers and material to be clipped. Materials to be clipped are held fast by the resilient restoring force of a helical tension spring so that it is possible to positively hold the materials fast without damaging them.

1 Claim, 11 Drawing Figures PAINTED- 3.738 .499

SBEEI 2 0F 3 I NVENTOR5 uoeonu T Ammznun BY Mam onsucn PAPER HOLDER SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a paper holder for tightly gripping name cards, chits, memorandum and other papers and materials to be clipped.

Heretofore, when it is desired to temporarily lay aside name cards, chits, memorandum and other varieties of papers, it has been customary to use a paper holder of the so-called gripper type comprising a pair of holder members pivotally connected to a shaft for free closing and opening movements and a spring mounted on the shaft, such spring having linear portions at opposite ends thereof which are disposed on the inner surfaces of the pair of holder members so that the forward ends of the holder members may be normally maintained in intimate contact with each other by the biasing force of the spring. Alternatively, a device of a simpler construction comprising a fine steel wire bent in a suitable shape has been used for holding papers fast.

Papers holders of the prior art referred to hereinabove have disadvantages. The device of the so-called gripper type requires a lot of manual attention each time papers are inserted in or removed from the holder. MOre specifically, the operation section of the paper holder should be held by hand so as to open or close the holder. When it is desired to remove some paper from the holder which hold fast a number of papers, one has to go through all the papers on the holder to look for the paper of interest. In the case of the device of simpler construction, limitation is placed on the number of papers that can be held fast by a single clip. Besides, the steel wires are liable to damage papers or other materials to be clipped by the burr formed at its ends when steel wires are cut to produce clips, and papers kept together by a clipper of this type tend to be dislodged from the clip because of the resilient force thereof being low.

This invention obviates the aforementioned disadvantages of the paper holders of the prior art. A main object of the invention is to provide a paper holder which permits to readily insert a material to be clipped in to the holder and remove the same therefrom, and which is effective to hold fast materials which have been held thereby when a material of interest is inserted into or removed from the holder.

Another object of the invention is to provide a paper holder which permits, when it is desired to remove some material from the holder which holds fast a number of materials, to find out the material of interest in one operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a paper holder which permits to positively hold fast materials to be clipped without damaging them.

Additional objects as well as features and advantages of this invention will become evident from the description set forth hereinafter when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the paper holder comprising one embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the paper holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line l11-l1l of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the paper holder of FIG. 1 showing materials held fast by the holder;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the paper holder of FIG. 1 showing materials held fast by the holder in positions which differ from the positions in which the materials are held in FIG. 4;

FIGS. 6 to 9 are sectional view similar to FIG. 3 but showing various modifications of the base of the paper holder shown in FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 10 and 11 are sectional views similar to FIG. 3 but showing another embodiment of the paper holder according to this invention.

In the embodiment show in FIGS. 1 to 5, l designates a base which is formed integrally with a mounting portion 2 disposed on the upper surface thereof. The mounting portion 2 is formed with an annular groove 3 which snugly receives therein the lower end portion of a helical tension spring 4 which is constructed such that its convolutions are maintained in intimate contact with one another. The upper end portion of the spring 4 is snugly received in an annular groove 6 formed in a knob 5 for operating the paper holder. The spring is firmly secured in the annular grooves 3 and 6. A number of projections 7 are formed on the outer surface of the side wall of the knob 5 to permit the hand of an operator for firmly grip the knob 5 without slipping.

Either one or both of the annular grooves 3 and 6 formed in the mounting portion 2 and knob 5 respectively may be in the form of a spiral groove so that the upper and/or lower end portions of the helical spring 4 may be threadably received in the grooves 3 and/or 5 respectively.

When the paper holder constructed as aforementioned is put in service, materials 8 and 9 to be held fast by the holder are inserted between the adjacent convolutions of the helical spring 4. The materials 8 and 9 are held fast by the resilient force of the spring 4. If the materials 8 and 9 are inserted between the adjacent convolutions with one end edge thereof which serves as a leading edge, the end edge of the materials 8 and 9 will strike and stop at the portion of the convolutions which is diametrically opposed to the portion thereof through which the materials 8 and 9 are inserted, so that the end edge of the materials 8 and 9 first inserted in the holder automatically abuts against the inner edges of the convolutions of the helical spring 4 to be held fast thereby. It will be appreciated that the paper holder according to this invention permits to insert a material to be clipped into the holder in any position as desired around the convolutions of helical spring 4.

When it is desired to look at some material gripped by the paper holder which holds fast a number of materials, one has only to hold by hand the projection portion 7 of the knob 5 and turn the knob as in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 5. The material held by the upper convolutions of the helical spring is subjected to greater operation forces than the material held by the lower convolutions thereof due to the clamping pressure applied by the spring 4 and the pressure applied by the rotation of the knob 5. This causes the materials to be displaced relative to each other, with a result that the material of interest is exposed to view.

According to this invention, the base 1 may be provided on its underside with a sucker 10 as shown in FIG. 6, an adhesive tape 11 having a protective cover attached to its surface as shown in FIG. 7 or a magnet 12 as shown in FIG. 8. It will be appreciated that the provision of sucking means 10, 11 or 12 on the underside of the base 1 permits to readily fix the paper holder on the desk or any other place as desired when it is put to service.

According to this invention, the base I may be provided on its underside with a rivet or similar member 13 as shown in FIG. 9. This will permit the paper holder to be readily mounted on a wall 14 or other place by merely piercing wood or other soft portion of the wall with the rivet 13.

As shown in FIG. 10, a rivet or nail 15 may be secured to the underside of the base 1 and the knob may be constructed such that its lower end abuts against an upright edge portion 16 formed on the upper surface of the base 1 integrally therewith. By this arrangement, the paper holder can be readily mounted in any position by merely striking the knob 5 so as to drive the nail into a member to which the paper holder is to be attached.

As shown in FIG. 11, the knob 5 may be formed with a recess 17 and a cover 18 may be provided if desired. The recess 17 will serve as a container for metallic clips or other small things.

From the foregoing description, it will be appreciated that the paper holder according to this invention offers many advantages because it permits to hold materials fast be merely inserting the same between adjacent convolutions of the helical spring. The operation in volved in clipping materials by this paper holder is simple and causes no damage to the materials. Since the materials inserted between adjacent convolutions of the spring are held hast by the compressive force and resilient restoring force of the spring itself, there is no danger of the materials inadvertently slipping out of the paper holder, thereby permitting to positively keep the materials together.

When it is desired to remove some material from the paper holder, one has only to pull the material of interest out of engagement between the adjacent convolutions of the spring. The use of the helical spring permits to increase the length of the paper holder by holding the knob and pulling the same upwardly because the helical spring is capable of expansion, thereby permitting to hold fast many materials. If the number of convolutions of the helical spring is increased, then it is possible to increase the number of materials gripped by the paper holder. Besides, since the convolutions of the helical spring defines a hollow space, the hollow space of the convolutions may be used as a container for small money or small things.

While the paper holder according to this invention has been shown and described above as using a helical spring of a circular spiral type, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to this specific form of the spring, and that any spring which is wound helically in elliptic, triangular, square or other form.

What we claim is:

l. A paper holder comprising a base having an integrally formed mounting portion extending outwardly from and transversely of the surface of said base, said mounting portion having an annular groove therein with the opening from said groove direct outwardly away from the surface of said base, a helical spring of the compression type having a plurality of convolutions with the convolutions disposed in intimate contact with one another and being capable of being separated from one another when a force is applied and of returning to contacting relationship when the force is released, a knob having an annular groove in the surface thereof and said knob positioned so that its groove faces toward said base, the opposite end of said spring from the end secured in the groove in said mounting portion of said base is secured in said groove in said knob, and suction means secured to the opposite side of said base member from said mounting portion, at least one of the grooves in said mounting portion and said knob having a spiral groove therein with said helical spring threadedly secured in the spiral groove whereby said convolutions of said spring can be separated for inserting paper material therebetween so that said convolutions return toward contacting relationship when the separating action is released for holding the paper material therebetween. 

1. A paper holder comprising a base having an integrally formed mounting portion extending outwardly from and transversely of the surface of said base, said mounting portion having an annular groove therein with the opening from said groove direct outwardly away from the surface of said base, a helical spring of the compression type having a plurality of convolutions with the convolutions disposed in intimate contact with one another and being capable of being separated from one another when a force is applied and of returning to contacting relationship when the force is released, a knob having an annular groove in the surface thereof and said knob positioned so that its groove faces toward said base, the opposite end of said spring from the end secured in the groove in said mounting portion of said base is secured in said groove in said knob, and suction means secured to the opposite side of said base member from said mounting portion, at least one of the grooves in said mounting portion and said knob having a spiral groove therein with said helical spring threadedly secured in the spiral groove whereby said convolutions of said spring can be separated for inserting paper material therebetween so that said convolutions return toward contacting relationship when the separating action is released for holding the paper material therebetween. 